{"id":336,"date":"2020-08-04T21:47:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T21:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/2020\/08\/04\/rockmount-2-0-city-aet\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T09:39:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T09:39:40","slug":"rockmount-2-0-city-aet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/2020\/08\/04\/rockmount-2-0-city-aet\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockmount 2-0 City (AET)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denis Hurley for EchoLive.ie<\/em><\/p>\n

Eoin Murphy and Dean Leahy were the Rockmount heroes as the Whitechurch claimed side a first Munster Senior Cup final victory at Turner\u2019s Cross last night after defeating a youthful Cork City side by two goals to nil after extra time.<\/p>\n

Having lost four previous finals, the most recent in 2016 when they lost to Cobh Ramblers, Rockmount denied Cork City a fourth straight title in extra time. First, impressive left-winger Murphy weaved his way into a shooting position in extra time and slotted his shot past Liam Bossin.<\/p>\n

While City pressed in the second period of extra time, they were unsuccessful just as they had been in normal time. A shot by sub Se\u00e1n Kennedy which was deflected out for a corner was the closest Neale Fenn\u2019s side came.<\/p>\n

Instead, the night belonged to Billy Cronin and his charges and the win was wrapped up at the death as sub Dean Leahy scored from inside his own half, with Bossin stranded.<\/p>\n

City had a completely changed team from the side which began Sunday\u2019s league defeat to Bohemians, with the two subs introduced \u2013 D\u00e1ire O\u2019Connor and Cory Galvin \u2013 the creative hubs while Ronan Hurley captained the team. Goalkeeper Bossin made his first appearance since suffering a concussion in City\u2019s only win so far this season, against Finn Harps in February. Rockmount had one change from their semi-final win over Carrigaline, with Daniel Duggan replacing Joe Meaney.<\/p>\n

Rockmount, with veteran Ken Hoey operating as a sweeper, set up in a 5-4-1 designed to make themselves difficult to break down and their defending was disciplined throughout the first half. City struggled to break them down and too often were forced to play in front of them, tough there were occasional moments of individual inspiration that almost created opportunities.<\/p>\n

Early on, lively midfielder Eddie McCarthy was allowed to carry the ball a long way but his low shot was wide, while when D\u00e1ire O\u2019Connor looked to find Ricardo Dinanga in the area Hoey got in a strong block.<\/p>\n

Rockmount centre-forward Kevin O\u2019Connell was left isolated for long periods, though Murphy almost conjured something in the 14th minute as he came in from the left but his low shot was straightforward for Bossin to save.<\/p>\n

Too often, City were reduced to having to try speculative deliveries from deep, with centre-back Jake O\u2019Brien unable to find Issa Kargbo \u2013 brother of Uniss, who made his league debut on Sunday \u2013 with one such attempt while Hurley and Ricardo Dinanga had shots blocked by Hoey and Cian O\u2019Driscoll respectively.Seven minutes before half-time, a good Dinanga cross looked to set up Kargbo, who couldn\u2019t get enough on the ball with Murphy blocking. As City kept the ball alive, McCarthy\u2019s delivery was perfect for Cian Bargary but he couldn\u2019t find the target.<\/p>\n

With Danny Aherne showing up well in midfield, Rockmount\u2019s workrate remained strong and three minutes before half-time they were almost rewarded. Murphy\u2019s cross from the left was inviting and afforded Niall Hanley a free header but he couldn\u2019t direct it either side of Bossin, who saved easily.<\/p>\n

On the resumption, the game followed a similar pattern and the second half was less than a minute old when McCarthy had a daisy-cutter saved by Brendan O\u2019Connell in the Rockmount goal. By and large, chances were rare, though, and with Rockmount continuing to soak up the pressure, City\u2019s defenders were having to bring the ball forward. Centre-back Rob Slevin \u2013 named as the FAI\u2019s university player of the year earlier in the day \u2013 shot over after one of these instances.<\/p>\n

With 20 minutes left, Kevin O\u2019Connell had a good Rockmount opportunity but Bossin saved well and kept out Jason Sexton\u2019s follow-up, too. After City\u2019s Bargary and sub Se\u00e1n Kennedy had efforts repelled by Brendan O\u2019Connell, Mount had a great chance with seven minutes left as Eoin Murphy was almost through but sub Charlie Fleming denied him with a great challenge.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, City looked to be finishing normal time stronger, but it was Rockmount\u2019s Murphy who had the decisive say.<\/p>\n

CORK CITY:<\/strong> Bossin; I Kargbo, O\u2019Brien, Slevin (Fleming 60), Hurley; Desmond, Galvin (McGrath 60), McCarthy (Holland 60); O\u2019Connor (Kennedy 73), Dinanga, Bargary.<\/p>\n

ROCKMOUNT:<\/strong> B O\u2019Connell; Carson, O\u2019Driscoll, Hoey, Sexton, J O\u2019Connell (Leahy 90); Hanley, Aherne, Duggan (Meaney 77), Murphy (Murray 106); K O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n

Referee:<\/strong> Kevin O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denis Hurley for EchoLive.ie Eoin Murphy and Dean Leahy were the Rockmount heroes as the Whitechurch claimed side a first Munster Senior Cup final victory at Turner\u2019s Cross last night after defeating a youthful Cork City side by two goals to nil after extra time. Having lost four previous finals, the most recent in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,2],"tags":[121],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-match-reports","category-news","tag-rockmount"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2074,"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions\/2074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corkcityfc-posts.speiredev.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}